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My cringe deepens. That’s not the most comfortable place to sleep. I look down at the dark liquid in my cup, giving it a fleeting thought that it’s exactly how I normally make it in the morning. “Next time, you can just sleep in here with me. If you want.”
Nolan palms my thigh over the blanket. “All right, then. How are you feeling?”
Surprised and grateful he moved past my declaration, I shrug. “About the same as yesterday, I guess. My body is aching, and my head is swimming with all the junk that’s stuffed in there.”
Nolan wrinkles his nose in sympathy. “I brought you some daytime cold medicine as well as nighttime medicine. I wasn’t sure which you might want.”
He holds his hands out with a packet of orange and green pills. I waffle back and forth on which would be best. “I can’t really afford to take the nighttime ones since Cody’s going to be home this afternoon.”
“Feel free to say no without worrying about my feelings, but I could hang out with him today while you sleep. I don’t have to be at work until this evening.”
I bite my lip. The offer is so fucking tempting. I could sleep off this virus instead of having to push through for the next several days. But… I’m not there yet. I may have agreed to see where this could go with Nolan, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to leave my kid with the man I’m dating, even if I know in my gut that Cody would be safe with him.
Nolan gives me a soft smile and hands me the daytime pills. How the fuck can he read me like that? Maybe my indecision was obvious, but he still had to be paying close enough attention to see it. I’m not used to someone understanding me that well. I’m not sure how I feel about it either.
I open the pill packet and swallow them down with a drink of water.
“Would you be interested in breakfast? I make a mean omelet. I’m also not too shabby at French toast.”
I smile at him. “I wouldn’t turn down some regular toast with peanut butter.”
“I can do?—”
“No, wait.” I grab his arm. “Cinnamon sugar. I don’t feel like trying to mess with peanut butter.”
Nolan laughs. “You got it, little dove.” He presses a kiss to my forehead, lingering for a second before pulling away. I scoot down in my bed and pull the covers over my head. I refuse to acknowledge the happy flutters in my stomach right now. Or how big my smile is. This won’t last. He’s only doing this to impress me, not because he has some weird desire to do it.
Despite knowing all of that… it might be working a little bit.
But I’ll never tell him that.
I scroll through the options on Netflix. Choosing something to watch while you’re sick isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Which seems backward to me. When else do you get to veg out on the couch without feeling an ounce of guilt for it? You’d think I’d want to catch up on all the shows I don’t have time to watch during the week, but those take more concentration than I’m willing to put into my TV watching.
“Ohh. Yes!” I wiggle in my spot with excitement. I turn on the first episode of the reality show I’ve been dying to watch. I can never justify starting it, given that I have minimal adult show-watching time.
Nolan peeks around the corner of the kitchen with a frown. He watches the TV for a minute before he scoffs. “Is this that reality show where the shitty dude acts like an ass the whole time?”
I raise my eyebrow at him. “It is, but how do you know that?”
He rolls his eyes. “Social media wouldn’t be doing its job if they didn’t push this stuff.”
I purse my lips to keep from laughing. “Mm-hmm. Okay.” Does he not realize he has to watch that stuff for it to continue to show up on his feed?
Nolan turns back to the kitchen. I’m not entirely sure what he’s doing in there right now. He brought me breakfast in bed an hour ago, and I came out here when I finished eating. The medicine I took earlier has helped clear up some of the worst of my symptoms. I’m feeling better than I did yesterday, that’s for sure.
Before I know it, I’m completely sucked into the show, but I do not miss how often Nolan comes around the corner to watch. He scoffs regularly, yet he can’t seem to stay away for very long. I don’t say a word. He’d just deny it if I did.
The first episode is almost over when Nolan plops down on the couch right next to me. He holds a plate of chocolate chip cookies out to me, grabbing one for himself at the same time. I stare at the side of his face in surprise. Who even is this guy? Like… I seriously don’t understand where he came from or why he is the way he is. Who just makes cookies for no reason? Because I know for damn certain I did not have premade cookies in my pantry. I didn’t even have frozen cookie dough. I ate it last week in a shameless moment when I was doing everything I could not to call Nolan just to hear his voice. Don’t worry, there was only, like, a quarter of it left.
“You… made these?”
He looks at me like I’m being stupid. “Yeah?”
“But… why?”
He shrugs. “’Cause you deserve it. When I was a kid, my mom always made me my favorite treat when I got sick. It made me feel better to have something comforting when I didn’t feel good. I didn’t know what your favorite dessert was, but I saw the chocolate chips in your pantry and went with it.”
I grab Nolan’s face and kiss him. He’s made it abundantly clear he doesn’t give a damn about germs. Though, to be fair, I don’t stick my tongue in his mouth. I have limits.
